Jannat: A Hell awaits at the unseen side of Heaven!

Now, that Hindi film industry has finally come towards acknowledging films with a distinctive storylines, some film makers will definitely shine, one of them being debutant Kunal Deshmukh. Vishesh Bhatt comes up as a writer who is going to stay right there and give us some good movies to watch, as we have seen the fair side of the game, now let’s digest the darker side as it comes from this debutant writer.

Jannat shows you a supposedly make-believe world of gambling that circles around not cards, not lotteries but match fixing in the much loved game of cricket. Jannat is about the journey of this man, who starts small and goes on to making deals worth billion in gambling only this time the medium is cricket, so it has nothing to do with cricket jargons or pitches or tactics of game.

Rating: 3/5

The Bhatt camp always has come up with some very out of the box stories and with a certain charm about them, so this one is an ideal prodigy to their production house. And, whatever be the plot and the issues discussed in these films, there lies a passionate love story that catches one’s fancy. This however doesn’t imply that there aren’t imperfections in the film, but that definitely owes to the fact that we sit only for two hours in the theatre and it cannot stretch beyond a point, which might be considered in a book with some thousand pages.

From the point of view of match-fixing the movie is a big zero, and gives you as much idea as you already had, courtesy news channels. The dialogue “Cricketers are like prostitutes!” by Emraan Hashmi in the film only shows how much the Bhatts know about the game! No further questions asked.

The motif created is not really expected from a debutant pair as are the director and writer of Jannat. Both Kunal and Vishesh are aware of the fact that they are not only showing two subplots, which are pretty powerful but they maintain the individuality of the main plot in tact. Though you don’t really expect a Dr. Faustus form them, the main plot is about a man torn between his desire to become rich and exchanging his soul for it, which will mean to lead a life without love.

With this plot around, Jannat has the other two plots woven with a skilled hand, match-fixing in cricket and the love life of the blinded protagonist. Understanding that this indeed is an intricate story from Vishesh Bhatt, it required a very controlled hand, which Kunal Deshmukh provided with making the story grow within a gap of few minutes, not trying to give everything at a time for the audience to cud on.

Arjun Dixit (Emraan Hashmi) belongs to a middle-class family, whose chief aim in life is to make it big, and the methods which he uses for this is one of short-cut. Some how he has a talent to predict cricket match, no study astrology and numerology indicated, which most Indians have along with their other five senses. He starts off with small but soon realizing his potential of predicting matches, he starts betting on it to reduce the increasing loan he has been taking to suffice his luxurious needs.

This reckless carefree guys’s world welcomes love at first sight in a mall, when he finds Zoya (Sonal Chauhan) simply gazing at a diamond ring, while on a window shopping spree. The lover in him takes a plunge and even before he knows, he gets the ring and presents to her along with some other Bollywood style stunts to woo her. Finally, as Zoya gives in to the day dreams woven by Arjun. Soon, she comes to her senses and the moral values in her stir till she offers him up to the law.

With vows of reforming for his lady love Arjun, wants nothing to do with the world of gambling. However the world still charms him into a last stint that would settle him for a lifetime if he makes it big enough. The underworld kingpin, Abu (Jawed Sheikh) shows him a heaven if he agrees to fix one last match for him.

The compulsive bookie in him takes him to the beautiful Cape Town. now, he has to decide between his love, or the wealth he always dreamt for or the instincts that always land him in the wrong side of the road.

First of all, the movie is a one man show, and what a show! Emraan Hashmi has the soul of the film, without him, the film may not really make the point it does. This blue-eyed boy of the Bhatt camp gives you the feeling as if the role has been custo0m-cut for him. Jannat will always remain one of his best performances so far.

The official kisser of Bollywood however refrains himself in the movie to just one or two such scenes. Right from the carefree mischievous looks to the vulnerable pliability at the climax, deserves a pat on the shoulder. Sonal Chauhan looks very elegant and beautiful, looks the kind of girl one would go to any extent. Acting wise, she shows some talent, which can further be explored. Jawed Sheikh was good but very mediocre. Samir Kochar as the Indian cop in Cape Town does a wonderful job. Vishal Malhotra looked exceedingly funny with his constipating expressions and the other actors like Shakeel Khan, Abhimanyu Singh and Vipin Sharma did good jobs of the brief screen time they had.

The cinematography by Manoj Soni was exceedingly good. The visual around Cape Town are no doubt top notch. You can sit hours watching them. The dialogues by Sanjay Masoom are pretty cool. The music by Pritam is good to hear, especially the title song Jannat Jahan and the other number Zara Sa are very melodious. Even the background music has a certain mellowness about it.

Keeping in mind the IPL fever on, Jannat is a good watch but going to a theatre is not strongly advocated, that is if you do not mind missing the splendid and some very awesome scenes from Cape Town!

Rating: 3/5